A new study published on February 25 in Frontiers in Allergy warned that global warming may increase the speed of windborne pollen transmission and spread over large areas even before its actual season begins. Sensitivity for a longer period of time than usual, and for more severe each year.
According to the press release published on the Phys.org website, researchers from the Technical University of Munich in Germany have concluded that the way pollen is transported changes according to weather patterns, which may lead Pollen spreads to new areas and exposes people to various allergens for which their immune system may not be ready.
The study focused on the region of Bavaria in southeast Germany, where researchers used 6 stations to track 7 types of flowering plants and to monitor pollen there.
The researchers found that the time period from 1987 to 2017 was characterized by a high flowering season for some species such as hazelnut shrubs and aspen trees for up to two days a year, adding up to 60 days for the pollen season in Bavaria at the time.
The researchers also observed a change in the pollen release date and flowering season in other plant species such as birch and elm trees, as the pollen release process took place half a day before the estimated launch date of each year.
Global warming may accelerate the transmission and spread of wind-borne pollen over large areas (Pixabay)
Foreign pollen
The most important finding is that the amount of pollen that was detected was non-local;
At monitoring stations installed in the Alps, 75% of pollen species were from outside Bavaria.
This percentage decreased and became 63% in the plain land stations, which means that the actual concentration of pollen grains depends mainly on the winds between neighboring areas, in addition to the atmospheric patterns there.
These changes - which have been observed in the transportation of pollen grains - indicate that more pollen grains will be carried from other regions of the world during the night and the edges of the day, which leads to the extension of local allergic seasons and make them more volatile by the end of spring.
The pollen load is also expected to be more intense at night, a time which is usually considered a safe time for people who are allergic to outdoor air.
Recent studies indicate that it may get worse with higher pollen concentrations (Technical University of Munich)
It might get worse
The researchers also found that the emergence of pollen earlier in its season (up to 10 days) was common between 2005 and 2015, even when the particular plant was not yet flowering in Bavaria.
In the past three decades, rising temperatures due to climate change have increased the estimated time period for the North American pollen season by an estimated 20 days per year.
This was accompanied by the production of more pollen in the spring, due to the high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which exacerbated all kinds of respiratory problems for those who suffer from allergies.
Recent studies indicate that the matter may worsen with higher concentrations of pollen and longer seasons, in addition to the spread of spread to areas where residents have not been educated about the danger facing them.